Top 100 Most Popular U.S. Baby Names Of 1981

Page of 2

1981 Popular Names U.S. - Top 100 Baby Names
				Change from 1980						Change from 1980
Girls		Number of Girls	%	Rank	Number	Boys		Number of Boys	%	Rank	Number
1	Jennifer	57,049	3.190	0	-1,326	1	Michael	68,763	3.692	0	67
2	Jessica	42,533	2.378	1	8,612	2	Christopher	50,235	2.697	0	1,143
3	Amanda	34,373	1.922	-1	-1,448	3	Matthew	43,333	2.326	3	5,478
4	Sarah	28,173	1.575	1	2,418	4	Jason	41,931	2.251	-1	-6,240
5	Melissa	28,000	1.566	-1	-3,636	5	David	40,668	2.183	-1	-1,257
6	Amy	20,343	1.138	2	508	6	Joshua	39,054	2.097	1	2,994
7	Nicole	20,312	1.136	0	392	7	James	38,313	2.057	-2	-1,012
8	Stephanie	20,209	1.130	5	2,368	8	John	34,887	1.873	0	-392
9	Elizabeth	20,173	1.128	0	645	9	Robert	34,406	1.847	0	126
10	Heather	17,947	1.004	-4	-2,028	10	Daniel	30,994	1.664	1	1,100
11	Michelle	17,776	0.994	-1	-1,347	11	Joseph	30,773	1.652	-1	570
12	Rebecca	16,740	0.936	5	1,460	12	Justin	27,311	1.466	1	555
13	Kimberly	16,690	0.933	-2	-1,810	13	Ryan	26,825	1.440	2	2,017
14	Tiffany	16,414	0.918	0	185	14	Brian	26,602	1.428	-2	-2,120
15	Angela	15,920	0.890	-3	-2,051	15	William	24,806	1.332	-1	-848
16	Crystal	15,884	0.888	2	1,629	16	Jonathan	22,595	1.213	5	3,601
17	Christina	14,396	0.805	-2	-1,741	17	Eric	20,724	1.113	-1	-1,908
18	Lisa	14,294	0.799	-2	-1,367	18	Andrew	20,237	1.086	1	508
19	Erin	13,856	0.775	1	426	19	Brandon	20,216	1.085	11	6,044
20	Amber	13,814	0.772	2	1,259	20	Adam	20,042	1.076	2	1,170
21	Laura	13,291	0.743	0	374	21	Nicholas	19,780	1.062	-4	-1,246
22	Rachel	12,587	0.704	1	964	22	Jeremy	19,113	1.026	-4	-789
23	Kelly	11,876	0.664	-4	-1,841	23	Anthony	18,575	0.997	1	962
24	Andrea	11,682	0.653	4	1,230	24	Timothy	18,227	0.979	-4	-928
25	April	11,404	0.638	0	-70	25	Kevin	17,464	0.938	-2	-520
26	Sara	11,357	0.635	1	209	26	Thomas	17,166	0.922	-1	-404
27	Mary	11,045	0.618	-1	-429	27	Richard	16,857	0.905	-1	193
28	Jamie	10,980	0.614	-4	-546	28	Steven	16,488	0.885	0	571
29	Emily	10,802	0.604	2	1,796	29	Jeffrey	15,932	0.855	-2	-452
30	Danielle	10,035	0.561	3	1,189	30	Aaron	14,692	0.789	4	1,519
31	Kristin	9,737	0.544	6	2,035	31	Charles	14,429	0.775	-2	-532
32	Shannon	9,227	0.516	-3	-442	32	Benjamin	14,357	0.771	0	723
33	Megan	8,967	0.501	-3	-171	33	Mark	13,545	0.727	-2	-616
34	Ashley	8,879	0.497	6	1,582	34	Scott	12,726	0.683	-1	-586
35	Lauren	8,808	0.493	3	1,331	35	Paul	11,782	0.633	0	-42
36	Erica	8,623	0.482	-2	-137	36	Nathan	11,263	0.605	0	121
37	Julie	8,565	0.479	-5	-345	37	Jesse	10,451	0.561	8	2,069
38	Kristen	8,542	0.478	1	1,226	38	Patrick	10,391	0.558	0	37
39	Katherine	8,435	0.472	-4	416	39	Stephen	10,296	0.553	1	231
40	Maria	7,674	0.429	-4	-189	40	Travis	10,109	0.543	-3	-661
41	Brandy	6,895	0.386	1	485	41	Kenneth	9,477	0.509	0	-137
42	Christine	6,853	0.383	-1	-232	42	Dustin	9,355	0.502	2	937
43	Courtney	6,638	0.371	5	1,022	43	Jacob	9,351	0.502	0	826
44	Katie	6,599	0.369	0	464	44	Sean	8,894	0.478	4	1,292
45	Tara	6,365	0.356	-2	82	45	Jose	8,767	0.471	1	448
46	Alicia	5,856	0.327	1	104	46	Gregory	8,757	0.470	-4	-512
47	Lindsay	5,845	0.327	24	1,490	47	Chad	8,413	0.452	-8	-1,736
48	Kathryn	5,822	0.326	2	294	48	Bryan	7,220	0.388	1	-296
49	Monica	5,783	0.323	-4	-251	49	Shawn	7,077	0.380	-2	-621
50	Brandi	5,526	0.309	12	823	50	Bradley	6,897	0.370	1	-316

United States name popularity data is provided by the Social Security Administration and is based on Social Security card applications.

Data for a given year is not made available until well into the next year.

Data reflects what was recorded and has not been edited for errors, so for example the gender associated with a name may be incorrect.

The more babies that are given a particular name, the higher the popularity ranking. If multiple names have the same usage, the tie is broken by assigning popularity rank in alphabetical order. Therefore in the case of names with fewer occurrences, names with the same number of occurrences may have vastly different rankings because they will be interranked alphabetically.

To safeguard privacy, the SSA does not include names with less than 5 occurrences.

Please note, we update the data each May when the SSA releases new figures. All data changes at that time, including previous years, which will change minutely based on new information.